Endosporia

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In botany, endosporia describes the phenomenon that the unisex gamete-forming generation ( gametophyte ) does not become independent, but develops within the spore . Only the finished male gametes (spermatozoids or sperm cells) leave the spore wall to fertilize a female egg cell within another spore (megaspore).

Endosporia is always associated with heterosporia , in which a distinction is made between microspores and megaspores. It is considered the end point of the evolutionary tendency towards dominance of the sporophyte . The endosporia is a feature of the moss ferns ( Selaginella ), the bream herbs (Isoetales), the water ferns ( Salvinia , Azolla , Pilularia and Marsilea ) and the seed plants .